Writing by Intuition
by Roseanna M. White
Ready to talk math?! What? No, I’m on
the right blog. I promise. And I shall prove to you in a few quick
steps that you, you writer out there, are in fact a mathematician.
Ready? (Strap your seatbelt on if you feel the need. But I promise,
this road won’t be too bumpy, LOL.)
 |
| Blaise Pascal by Augustin Pajou |
I’m going to start us off with an intro to a truly awesome man
named Blaise Pascal. No doubt you’ve heard of him. He was the
“Heart has its reason that reason knows nothing of” dude. He was
a brilliant man, expounding on math, physics, philosophy, and faith.
I love his Pensees (translation:
Thoughts), especially
the ones dealing with faith. But it’s also worth reading his
thoughts on subjects like math. In one of these writings a bit
too long for me to quote here, Pascal delves into two different kinds
of minds—the mathematical mind and the intuitive mind. Here’s the
skinny: the mathematical mind goes from step to step to step, making
reasonable, logic leaps in a progressive fashion. The intuitive mind,
on the other hand, sees the answer clearly without knowing the steps
taken to get there.
Is the application
to writing starting to come through? Probably, right?
We all know that
there are Pantsers and Plotters. And quite a few levels between. And
we also all know there are methods galore on structuring your story,
plotting your story, winging your story, building your characters,
tormenting your characters (that’s totally a legitimate way of
putting it, right?), and every other part of constructing a book. But
I’m positing here that those methods are for the mathematical mind.
So what about the
intuitive?
First, let’s
determine if you might just be an intuitive writer. Here’s a little
quiz to help you figure it out.
- What’s your favorite book on craft?
a. Bell’s Plot and Structureb. Lamott’s Bird by Birdc. Maass’s Writing the Breakout Noveld. Craft book? Hmm, I have twenty of them, but I can never get all the way through one...
- Where do each of your Three Acts begin?
a. Chapters Four, Twelve, and Eighteenb. Chapters Three, Ten, and Nineteenc. Chapters Five, Fifteen, and Twenty-Fived. My what now? You do know I’m writing a novel, right, and not a play?
- What’s the lie your character is telling herself?
a. That she is nothing specialb. That she cannot succeed without helpc. That if she tells the truth, he’ll kill herd. Lie—wait, I know this one. It’s...um...well, she...Stephanie! What’s the lie my character is telling herself??
Detecting the theme
yet? ;-) If you’re an intuitive writer, you tend to see the story
and, whether or not you plot or pants it while writing, have a hard
time putting labels on the elements. Oh, you can usually identify
climax, maybe those Acts, some of the big stuff. But all the little
labels that spring up? Those might give you headaches.
I’m here to tell
you that that’s OKAY.
For years, I sat in
classes at conference and read blog articles and thought, “Yes, of
course, this is how we writers write. This is how we take it up a
level or five. This is how we make sure our stories are solid and
strong.” Then I’d take my notes, my newly-purchased book and
workbook, I’d sit down in front of my WIP...and I’d go blank.
It was
frustrating, because I knew my stories had
these things. I knew my plots were balanced, that my characters were
well developed. And when I emailed my critique partner for her
opinion on these aspects in my book, she could give me the answer in
about ten seconds. Did Stephanie know my story better than me? No.
Does she have a better grasp on writing? Sometimes I think so, LOL,
but it’s not necessarily that. But what she does have is a
mathematical mind.
(Stephanie is now
laughing hysterically in front of her computer, I betcha. Calling me
all kinds of crazy...) ;-)
But
seriously. There are those who know how to organize and label and
progress from step to step to step. And there are those of us who
just don’t.
Now, Pascal himself
advocates the perfectly balanced combination of these traits. To put
it in terms of writing, it’s the person who can come up with a
nearly complete idea and then go through and identify the important
parts, tweaking where necessary to make sure each aspect is strong.
Those craft books and seminars no doubt come in handy there, but it’s
their instinct that helps them apply it wisely and creatively.
But
most of us lean one way or the other. And there is advice aplenty for
those who need the bullet points and diagrams. The other side is much
quieter—and for good reason. How, exactly, does one teach a
non-system?
Well,
I don’t dare to say I can teach
it, but I can give you a few pointers on how to strengthen your
intuition and beef up that mathematical side too.
First
of all, give yourself permission to not be a labeler.
If you happen to
have a great answer to the questions about lies and black moments and
acts, great! Use them! Tack them to your wall and go with that. But
if you don’t, don’t stress it, don’t fret over it, and don’t
waste time that you could be writing trying to figure it out.
Next,
learn to recognize the voice of your intuition.
If
you’re going to go this route, then don’t slack at it. Does a
sentence not sound right or feel right? Don’t be lazy. Fix it. Does
one character bother you? Figure out why—and don’t be afraid to
ask a critique partner for her opinion. Is a line of dialogue flat?
Delete it, replace it. Does your ending feel weak? Rewrite it. Do you
feel trapped in the character’s drawing room? Send them out on a
mission. After manuscript revision after manuscript revision, I
realized that I usually knew what was off long before my critters
helped me label it. But I ignored it, and ended up with more work in
the end. Once I learned to trust that voice, to know
that voice, I eliminated a lot of correcting.
Know
the Systems.
I’ve
never studied the Snowflake or mapped out my Acts, I only made it
through a few pages of the Breakout
Novel Workbook.
But I know the gist of them all, and keeping them in the back of my
mind helps me to identify where my weaknesses are and some standard
ways of strengthening them. I’ve even tried my hand at various
methods of organizing. Index cards, color-coded charts, you name it.
I never use one more than once, LOL, but trying them out has helped
me in general. Not with labeling, but at least with organizing. ;-)
Don’t
be afraid to twist the rules.
My
heroine’s black moment in my latest WIP turns into a bright moment
halfway through the scene. My climax is characterized by the hero
choosing not
to act. Her lie is, in fact, the truth—which is an issue she has to
deal with. Don’t mix it up for the sake of mixing it up, but if
your gut says your story needs to throw convention out the window,
then somebody pull up the blinds!
Trust
your instincts.
I wrote, oh, ten or so books before I joined ACFW and learned all the
rules. And while I wish (oh, how I wish!) I’d known all these
basics of POV and Show v. Tell from the get-go, I also appreciate the
rules more because I can look back through my manuscripts and see how
I evolved toward them on my own. The last book I wrote before
learning about head-hopping didn’t, actually, head-hop. I
occasionally shifted POVs when one character left a room without
inserting a break, but the scenes themselves were within POV. Still,
I needed the Rules to help me solidify those instincts, and to know
which ones were right and which ones needed better hewn.
Don’t
mistake pride for intuition.
My writing has always been and will always be more gut than
structure. I do plot—but I don’t examine what part each scene
plays. My plotting is more just taking notes on the story that has
laid itself out in my mind. Still, I have to be careful not to
confuse instinct with knowledge. Knowing how a story should go or a
character should grow doesn’t mean I executed it right.
Which
takes me back to math class. I drove my teachers nuts in middle and
high school by not showing my work. I’d get the right answer, which
I thought was all that mattered—but each and every one of them told
me that wasn’t enough. Because then, when I was wrong, I had no
idea where I’d gone
wrong.
The
same is true in writing fiction. Intuitive writers will often get it
right—but when we don’t, how are supposed to fix it? That’s
where we have to learn enough of the mathematical way to keep our
instincts in shape. We have to be willing to grant our weaknesses and
learn how to shore them up. We have to learn how to apply some
of the structure so that we can be wise in what we ignore. ;-) And
yes, it’s very, very helpful to have a critique partner who leans
the other direction. That way she can help you label when labeling is
required, and you can help her fill in the blanks when structure
leaves a hole.
In the end, hopefully you’ll end up with a system that combines
math and intuition...even if those craft books do gather dust on your
shelf.
GIVEAWAY:
Leave a comment to be eligible to win Roseanna's latest exciting release, Ring of Secrets.
GIVEAWAY:
Leave a comment to be eligible to win Roseanna's latest exciting release, Ring of Secrets.
~*~
Roseanna M. White pens her novels
under the Betsy Ross flag hanging above her desk, with her Jane Austen
action figure watching over her. When she isn’t writing fiction,
she’s editing it for WhiteFire Publishing or reviewing it for the
Christian Review of Books, both of which she co-founded with her
husband. Her latest book, Ring of Secrets, takes the readers to Revolutionary New York and into the historical intrigue known as the Culper Ring. www.roseannawhite.com
